Sheeted harness

ABSTRACT

A sheeted harness comprising a single piece of sheet member, and a plurality of electric wires arranged on the sheet member. The sheet member is provided on only one side of the plurality of electric wires. The plurality of electric wires is arranged on the sheet member such that a portion of each of the plurality of electric wires is attached, separately from one another without being bundled, to the sheet member.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-200108 filed on Oct. 24, 2018, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a sheeted harness.

BACKGROUND

A related art harness has a harness arranged and held between a pair of sheets (see, e.g., JP2004-074954A).

The related art sheeted harness requires cost for two sheets. In addition, the related art sheeted harness is sometimes too rigid to handle. That is, the harness between the pair of sheets has increased rigidity, as it is provided in a form of a bundle by taping or the like. The bonding of the pair of sheets further increases the rigidity. For example, when installing the sheeted harness along a vehicle roof, it may be difficult to conform to a curved surface of the vehicle roof. Further, the sheeted harness is difficult to fold when packing the sheeted harness.

SUMMARY

Illustrative aspects of the present invention provide a sheeted harness with reduced cost and reduced rigidity.

According to an illustrative aspect of the present invention, sheeted harness comprising a single piece of sheet member, and a plurality of electric wires arranged on the sheet member. The sheet member is provided on only one side of the plurality of electric wires. The plurality of electric wires is arranged on the sheet member such that a portion of each of the plurality of electric wires is attached, separately from one another without being bundled, to the sheet member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a sheeted harness according to an embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a rear side of the sheeted harness illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the sheeted harness illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view around a plurality of electric wires illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a state of folding and unfolding of the sheeted harness illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a sheeted harness according to a modification example of the embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the following exemplary embodiments do not limit the scope of the claimed invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a sheeted harness according to an embodiment of the invention and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a rear side of the sheeted harness illustrated in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the sheeted harness 1 is provided at, for example, a narrow portion between a roof liner R, which is the ceiling portion of a vehicle interior, and a vehicle body panel P (see FIG. 3 or the like) above the roof liner R.

The sheeted harness 1 includes a single piece of sheet member S and a plurality of electric wires W. The sheet member S is made of a flexible and foldable insulating sheet. The sheet member S is made of a material that allows an object on one side of the sheet member S to be seen through the sheet member S from another side. For example, the sheet member S is made of a colored or colorless transparent plastic sheet, or a non-woven fabric that allows an object beyond to be visually recognized through the interstices of fibers. The sheet member S may have a single-layer structure or may include two or more layers.

Furthermore, it is preferable that one sheet member S have at least one function of sound absorption, vibration absorption, heat shielding, and deodorizing. That is, the sheet member S may have an air layer inside as in a non-woven fabric or may perform sound absorption and vibration absorption by the air layer. Further, the sheet member S may have a heat insulating layer (air layer or heat insulating member) inside and the heat insulating layer may shield heat. In addition, the sheet member S may perform deodorization by containing a deodorant.

The plurality of electric wires W are electric wires for supplying power to auxiliary devices and transmitting signals in a roof portion. The electric wires W are arranged on and attached to the sheet member S. In the embodiment, the electric wire W is attached to the sheet member S by attaching a tape T. The attachment of the electric wire W is not limited to the attachment by the tape T as long as it can be fixed to the sheet member S and may be attached to the sheet member S by adhesion, welding, or the like.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the sheeted harness 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. As illustrated in FIG. 3, in the embodiment, the sheet member S is provided on only one side of the plurality of electric wires W and is not provided on the other side. Further, in the embodiment, the sheeted harness 1 is disposed such that the plurality of electric wires W are on the roof liner R side and the sheet member S is on the vehicle body panel P side.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view around the plurality of electric wires W illustrated in FIG. 2. In the embodiment, the plurality of electric wires W are attached to the sheet member S in a state where the respective electric wires W form a single electric wire W and are not bundled. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the plurality of electric wires W are attached to the sheet member S in a state of being not converged by tape winding or the like.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the sheeted harness 1 according to the embodiment, the plurality of electric wire W is tape-wound and bundled at the edge portion (a portion other than the central portion described below) of the sheet member S and in an area outside the sheet member S and therefore a bundled portion BP is formed. Therefore, the sheeted harness 1 is made difficult to be entangled with the plurality of electric wires W at the time of packing and transportation and is easy to be wired in a pillar.

In particular, the sheeted harness 1 according to the embodiment has a structure without a branch portion in the central portion (for example, 90% of the central area of the entire area of the sheet member S) of the sheet member S. That is, in the embodiment, the plurality of electric wires W branch only from the bundled portion BP and there is no branched portion at other portions, so there is no branched portion at least at the central portion of the sheet member S. Here, when there is a branched portion, many electric wires W will be provided in a collected state before branching. Even when the collected electric wires W are not bundled by tape winding or the like, the collected electric wires W can be a factor to increase the rigidity. Therefore, as in the embodiment, by having a configuration in which the central portion of the sheet member S does not have a branch portion, it is possible to suppress a situation in which rigidity is increased due to the collected electric wires W.

Next, an attachment method of the sheeted harness 1 according to the embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a state of folding and unfolding of the sheeted harness 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 5, the illustration of the plurality of electric wire W and the like is omitted.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the sheet member S of the sheeted harness 1 is flexible and foldable (see A in FIG. 5). Therefore, at the time of packing and transportation, it will be in the folded state shown by the reference letter A in FIG. 5.

When installing the sheeted harness 1 in the roof portion, first, the sheeted harness 1 is expanded (spread) sequentially (see B and C in FIG. 5). When the sheeted harness 1 is completely expanded (see FIG. 2), an operator installs the sheeted harness 1 on the roof liner R so that the plurality of electric wires W are on the roof liner R side and the sheet member S is on the vehicle body panel P side. Then, the sheeted harness 1 is attached to the vehicle body panel P with the roof liner R.

The plurality of electric wires W are tape-wound and bundled at the edge portion of the sheet member S and in an area other than the sheet member S. The bundled portion BP is arranged inside the vehicle pillar and connected to vehicle equipment on an instrument panel side.

Next, an example of a method of manufacturing the sheeted harness 1 will be described. First, the sheet member S is placed on a wiring board on which wiring paths are drawn. Next, the bundled portion BP is placed at, for example, the corner of the sheet member S.

Here, since the sheet member S is configured to allow an object on the other side of the sheet member S to be seen through the sheet member S, the wiring path on the wiring board is visually recognizable. The electric wires W are arranged along the wiring paths drawn on the wiring board and are attached to the sheet member S by the tapes T or the like. The sheeted harness 1 is thus manufactured.

According to the sheeted harness 1 of the embodiment described above, the sheet member S is provided on only one side of the plurality of electric wires W. There is no sheet member provided on the other side of the plurality of electric wires W. Therefore, cost reduction can be achieved and rigidity does not increase as in a case of using a pair of sheets. Further, because each of the electric wires W is separately attached to the sheet member S in a state of a single electric wire W. In other words, the portions of the electric wires W attached to the sheet member S are not bundled. Therefore, it is possible to provide the sheeted harness 1 with reduced rigidity and lower cost.

The electric wires W 1 do not have a branched portion at the central portion of the sheet member S. Therefore, the electric wires W are not gathered together at the central portion of the sheet member S, which otherwise would increase rigidity due to the electric wires W gathered together.

The sheet member S allows an object beyond to be seen through the sheet member S. This makes it possible to arrange the sheet member S on the wiring board or the like on which the wiring paths are drawn, allowing an easy fabrication of the sheeted harness 1 with accurate arrangement of the electric wires W on the sheet member S.

The plurality of electric wires W are bundled at the edge portion of the sheet member S and in an area other than the sheet member S. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the plurality of electric wire W are spread apart on the sheet member S and become entangled at the time of packing.

The sheeted harness 1 is disposed between the roof liner R and the vehicle body panel P and is arranged so that the plurality of electric wires W are on the roof liner R side and the sheet member S is on the vehicle body panel P side. Thus, the sheet member S functions as a protective member for the electric wires W, which can contribute to eliminating the need for a protective exterior part.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

For example, the sheeted harness 1 according to the embodiment is preferably attached to, for example, the roof liner R. In this case, the sheeted harness 1 may be attached to the roof liner R by, for example, a double-sided tape or may be attached to the roof liner R by hot melt and adhesive bonding. Further, the sheeted harness 1 may be made of a material which allows the sheet member S to be heat weldable and may be attached to the roof liner R by heat welding.

In addition, while the thickness of the sheet member S has not been mentioned in the embodiment described above, it is preferable that the sheet member S has a certain thickness. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the sheeted harness 1 according to a modification example of the embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the sheeted harness 1 according to the modification example, the sheet member S is formed thick and has a thickness L2 which is half or more of a distance Li between the roof liner R and the vehicle body panel P, for example. As a result, the sheet member S is disposed so as to fill a gap between the roof liner R and the vehicle body panel P, so that the noise suppressing effect and the heat insulating effect can be easily obtained.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the plurality of electric wires W are bundled at the edge portion of the sheet member S and in an area outside the sheet member S. However, it is not limited to this and it may be bundled only at the edge portion of the sheet member S or may be bundled only in an area outside the sheet member S.

In addition, in the embodiment, the sheeted harness 1 is disposed such that the plurality of electric wires W are on the roof liner R side and the sheet member S is on the vehicle body panel P side. However, it is not limited to this and the plurality of electric wires W may be disposed on the vehicle body panel P side and the sheet member S may be on the roof liner R side. In this case, an opening may be formed in the sheet member S so as to make a connector connection with devices in the roof portion. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A sheeted harness comprising: a single piece of sheet member, and a plurality of electric wires arranged on the sheet member, wherein the sheet member is provided on only one side of the plurality of electric wires, and wherein the plurality of electric wires is arranged on the sheet member such that a portion of each of the plurality of electric wires is attached, separately from one another without being bundled, to the sheet member.
 2. The sheeted harness according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electric wires does not have a branched portion at a central portion of the sheet member.
 3. The sheeted harness according to claim 1, wherein the sheet member allows an object on one side of the sheet member to be seen through the sheet member from another side of the sheet member.
 4. The sheeted harness according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electric wires are bundled at an edge portion of the sheet member or in an area outside the sheet member.
 5. The sheeted harness according claim 1, wherein the sheeted harness is configured to be provided between a roof liner forming a ceiling portion of a vehicle interior and a vehicle body panel above the roof liner, such that the plurality of electric wires is arranged between the sheet member and the roof liner. 